The Explorers Club Washington Group is awarding a total of $15,652 in exploration grants to five graduate students.
The ECWG’s Grants Committee selected the awardees from 36 graduate students from nine universities in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
“This group of proposals was highly competitive,” said Polly Penhale, FN ’91, the chair of the Grants Committee.” Of note is that the cost of conducting field work has risen considerably since the program was initiated in 1997.
“Since the program’s beginning, we have made 104 awards, totaling $181,598. We have made a big difference in the careers of many students,” she said. “Our awardees have conducted successful research and exploration projects. Several students credited our support as helping them obtain subsequent support from other major grant programs.”
While many of the early awards were in the $1000-2000 range, today’s cost of airplane tickets, gasoline, sample analysis, etc. means that the budget requests have been rising. Most of the applicants have some level of graduate stipend support (which our program does not fund), and bits and pieces of support gathered from various sources. Our funds tend to support preliminary research, trips to museum collections, and field work (travel expenses, small instruments, etc.).
The awards and amounts from the past 3 years were:
The Washington DC area explorers reported a variety of activities during the last three months of 2011.
The ECWG Exploration and Field Research Grants Program announced another successful year and are awaiting this year’s applicants. Since the initiation of the program in 1997, 94 awards totaling $152,000 have allowed graduate students enrolled in a local area college or university (DC, VA, WV, MD) to conduct pilot programs or gather data that has helped secure additional funding from such sources as the Fulbright Program, the National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian, and other sources. Many thanks to the hard work of committee members Naval Research Laboratory geologist Dr. Joan GardnerFN ’03, National Geographic Cartography Editor Markie HunsikerFN ’98, and National Science Foundation polar scientist Dr. Polly PenhaleFN’91.
Robert Atwater LF’05 attended the “Messengers of Peace” initiative from September 26th through October 2nd in Saudi Arabia at the invitation of HRH King Carl Gustaf of .Sweden and the Saudi royal family. The Messengers of Peace initiative is a co-operative effort by the royal families to extend peaceful relations between all countries and religions through the programs of World Scouting. Attendees were given extensive tours of archaeological and other historic sites near Jeddah and the northern Saudi districts including Nabatean Tombs like those at Petra, Jordan. Bob and the other attendees are Life Fellows of the World Scout Foundation’s “Baden Powell World Fellowship!”
Dr. Richard Williams FN’03, NASA Chief Health and Medical Officer, was quoted extensively in an article in the Sept 27 Washington Post regarding a visual problem experienced by space shuttle astronauts. The condition which causes blurred vision is probably related to increased cerebrospinal fluid pressure due to microgravity and affects about 30 percent of shuttle pilots and 60 percent of those who have stayed 6 months on the shuttle. Gradual improvement in visual acuity usually occurs within months of return but may not be complete.
The book Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest by Dr. Wade Davis HON ’87, was reviewed in the December 4 NY Times Book Review. This “assiduously researched” book details George Mallory’s attempted Everest ascent amid the context of the post World War I British generational devastation and the need to re-establish national pride. On Dec. 29 National Public Radio’s Morning Edition featured an interview Davis, about You can listen to interview here. Knopf in the U.S. and Canada, and The Bodley Head in the UK published the book that Davis worked on for more than a decade: Davis considers it “by far the best book I have ever written,” and reviewers agree. For example: “Brilliantly engrossing. . . . A superb book. At once a group biography of remarkable characters snatched from oblivion, an instant classic of mountaineering literature, a study in imperial decline and an epic of exploration.” —Nigel Jones, The Guardian, UK. Davis described this trip and answered questions at the ECWG Nov. 19, 2011 dinner.
Marilyn Engle FN’03 took a flag to study human health impacts of mercury emissions from gold refining shops in two regions of Peru, the Amazon and high altitude locations. Mining accounts for about 30% of all human-related mercury release.
Dr. Lee Talbot MED’57 and Marty Talbot FN’04 explored the remote, roadless Nam Theun watershed in the high Annamite Moun- tains of Laos. At the behest of the Lao Government and World Bank, they surveyed a mostly unknown remote forest and grassland area, gained important information about rare or threatened wildlife, and demonstrated that Vietnamese poachers have free reign in the area.
Robert Atwater LF’05 took a flag with other Club members Josh Bernstein FR’04 and Curt Bowen FN’11 to the Yucatan and located Mayan pottery and human remains after diving in over 50 cenotes. Bob also went with Shellie Howard AN’10 and Idee Belau AN’10 and a team of explorers led by Jim Thompson FN’05 to the Mojave Desert to conduct surveys of ancient lava tubes for a NASA Mars project near the town of Baker. Bob was elected to the Board of Directors of the Institute for Nautical Archaeology (INA) located at Texas A&M.
J. J. Kelley SM’07 released his documentary about paddling home- made wooden boats down the 1300 mile Inside Passage from Alaska to Seattle with a friend. Featured previously on PBS via National Geographic’s Wild Chronicles, Kelley’s film features unusual encounters with unexpected marine life.
Scott Wallace FN’06 recently returned from exploring several remote jungle
locations in the watersheds of the Peruvian/Brazilian Amazon border. These rugged headwaters frontier regions contain uncontacted indigenous communities which remain in isolation from the world. Traveling by helicopter, bush plane, canoe, and on foot, this three month expedition into the land of the flecheiros (Arrow People) is chronicled in his forthcoming book entitled The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon’s Last Uncontacted Tribes. We are pleased that Scott returned unscathed as the flecheiros are known to repel intruders with showers of deadly arrows. He was also a guest on the NPR Radio “Weekend Edition” discussing his experiences in the remote Peruvian/Brazilian Amazon border. His book was reviewed in the December 4 NY Times Book Review which included a photo of Scott. He told the story behind the book at the ECWG’s Nov. 19 Cosmos Club dinner.
Dr. Lew Toulmin MN’04 organized a survey with Federal and state archaeologists to find the missing plantation of his ancestor, Brig. Gen. Andrew Williamson (1730-1786), near Greenwood, S. C. Williamson was a Patriot leader in the American Revolution, then took British protection, and was reviled as the “Benedict Arnold of South Carolina.” Later it was revealed that he spied on the British for a year while in their headquarters, making him America’s first important double agent. His plantation, White Hall, was a fort, depot, prison, military base and battlefield during the war. The survey team found Revolutionary War-era evidence of a structure that will be the site of future field research.
ECWG members appeared in the media as well over the past few months. Jack Williams FN’03 was a guest of the NPR Kojo Nnamdi Show discussing the effects of Hurricane Irene. As the recently retired founding weather editor of USA Today, Jack is a frequent resource for weather and climate issues for the media and government. Among his recent publications is one from July 2011 Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine on why lightning doesn’t knock airliners out of the sky when it hits them. His recent book The AMS Weather Book: The Ultimate Guide to America’s Weather is a highly respected resource and he is completing a book for the National Geographic Society.
Dr. Thomas King FN’02 was interviewed about his work as the senior archaeologist with The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) on the search for Amelia Earhart, on Fairfax County VA Public Television. He also presented a paper at the World Archaeological Congress’ Intercongress on Heritage Management in East and Southeast Asia, in Beijing, as a guest of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
In other news, Dr. Michael Manyak MED’92 was recently named to the board of directors of the National Eagle Scout Association (NESA) of the Boy Scouts of America. He also was an invited guest speaker at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business graduate program to lecture on aspects of expedition medicine. Dr. Manyak also presented his experiences in expedition medicine as the dinner program speaker for The Adventurers Club of Chicago. Anyone interested in a fascinating artifact display should visit this club which shares common roots of Teddy Roosevelt involvement and remote travel with The Explorers Club.
Most importantly, we welcome new members to ECWG and look forward to their participation and contributions to our chapter: James Abely MN‘11, Michael Blakely MN‘11, Jacob Bressman SM‘11, Carrie-Lee Early AN‘11, Kenneth Kambis FN‘11, Michael Max FN‘05,and Nicolas Temnikov FN‘78.
—Compiled by Dr. Michael Manyak
2011 Exploration and Field Research Grant Recipients
This list of 2011 ECWG Exploration and Field Research Grants for graduate students includes each awardee’s name, the university he or she is attending, the academic discipline, the research topic, and the location where the research will be conducted.
Abigail Conrad, American University, anthropology, “Permaculture gardens: Investigating food security and alternative agriculture among smallholder farmers in Malawi, Malawi.
Rachel Cooper, Virginia Commonwealth University, biology, “Ocean acidification: Understanding ocean carbon cycling and the biological pump in a high CO2 world, Virginia and North Carolina.
Renee Gondek, University of Virginia, “Art, women, dress and ritual in Greek vase painting, Greece, Italy, and Cyprus
Nell Haynes, American University, anthropology, “Identity, violence, and Bolivian women’s wresting,” Bolivia.
Cora Ann Johnston, University of Maryland, biology, “Exploring the influence of evolutionary history on invasive species interactions in Hawaii,” Hawaii.
Heather Parker, Johns Hopkins University, Near Eastern studies, “The Levant comes of Age: The ninth century B.C.E. through script traditions,” Germany, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Cyprus.
Julia Reis, University of Virginia, civil and environmental engineering, “Planning for reservoir operation and land use with farmers and fishers of the Mekong Basin, Vientiane, Laos.
Andrew Zipkin, George Washington University, anthropology, Orche exploitation in the Middle Stone Age of northern Malawi, Malawi
2010 Exploration and Field Research Grant Recipients
The list of 2010 ECWG Exploration and Field Research Grants for graduate students includes each awardee’s name, the university he or she is attending, the academic discipline, the research topic, and the location where the research will be conducted.
Gerald Carter, University of Maryland, “Do vampire bats perform reciprocity?”, Illinois
Habiba Chirchir, George Washington University, “Adaptations to running, locomotor endurance and gracility in modern humans”, Washington DC and Texas
Peter Clark, West Virginia University, “A Comprehensive Assessment of Natural Resources and Visitor Impacts to Cliff Habitats in the New River Gorge National River”, West Virginia
Stephanie Hasselbacher, College of William and Mary, “Bilingual and Biliterate Language Socialization within the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana”, Louisiana
Kyle Hesed, University of Maryland, “Dispersal and Personal Relationships in the Red-Backed Salamander”, Maryland
Elise Larsen, University of Maryland, “Bird Community Responses to Disturbance and Succession at Mount St. Helens”, Washington
Derek Miller College of William and Mary, “The Jewish Community of Bridgetown, Barbados: A Historical Archaeology Study”, Barbados
Thomas Saladyga, West Virginia University, “Land use pressure and climate impacts on fire regimes and forest regeneration in the upper Tuul River watershed”, Mongolia
Lori Sutter, College of William and Mary, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, “Effects of Global Climate on plant stress and nutrient assimilation in tidal marshes along a salinity gradient”, Virginia
Robert E. Hyman LF ‘93 and Mark Bonta, a professor at Delta State University in Mississippi who is an author with 20 years experience in the region, led the April 7-22, 2011 Honduran Biodiversity Expedition, which carried Explorers Club Flag #93. Lew Toulmin Ph.D. MN ‘04 helped plan the expedition but could not go. The expedition recorded 206 bird species, and the herpetologist team collected 68 samples. The expedition also collected 60 plant species. It explored several national parks and proposed protected areas, as well as a major archaeological site, all located in the(municipality of Gualaco.
Members of the ECWG and their guests met a cheetah cub at the May 14, 2011 reception and cocktail hour before enjoying dinner and then hearing Dr. Laurie Marker, FI ’06, the Founder and Executive Director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, discuss her work to save cheetahs from extinction. Read the complete story.
The Explorers Club Washington Group has awarded a total of $17,840 in Exploration and Field Research Grants to eight graduate students. The grants are intended to provide supplemental funds to support fieldwork or closely related endeavors, and generally range from one to several thousand dollars. While the awards are small, former grantees have successfully used their awards to collect preliminary data leading to other awards or to augment support for items not covered elsewhere. List of awardees.
ECWG member Jason Paterniti MN’ 10 and Dr Edward Harris FI ’99, the executive director of the National Museum of Bermuda, will be carrying an Explorers Club flag to Bermuda for the 2011 Warwick Project in June and July, 2011. The Warwick, which was on its way to the Jamestown, Virginia, colony, sunk on Oct. 20, 1619, at its anchorage in Castle Harbour, Bermuda, during a hurricane. More about the project on the Global Exploration & Oceanographic Society Web site. Paterniti the Society’s president.
Dr. Craig Cook MN ’01 was medical director and diver in a multi-institutional research flag expedition to the central equatorial pacific Northern Line Islands to evaluate the health of coral reef and marine ecosystems. Of particular interest were large shark populations and evidence that iron from old shipwrecks adversely impacts coral growth.
Marilyn Engle FN ’03 took a flag to study human health impacts of mercury emissions from gold refining shops in two regions of Peru, the Amazon and high altitude locations. Mining accounts for about 30% of all human-related mercury release.
Dr. Lee Talbot MED ’57 and Marty Talbot FN ’04 explored the remote, roadless and little known Nam Theun watershed in the high Annamite Mountains of central Laos. At the behest of the Lao Government and World Bank, this flag expedition surveyed a mostly unknown remote forest and grassland area, gained important information about rare or threatened wildlife, and demonstrated that Vietnamese poachers have free reign in the area.
Robert Atwater LF ’05 took a flag with other Club members Josh Bernstein FR ’04 and Curt Bowen FN ’11 to the Yucatan which located Mayan pottery and human remains after diving in over 50 cenotes. Bob also went with Shellie Howard AN ’10 and Idee Belau AN ’10 and a team of explorers led by Jim Thompson FN ’05 to the Mojave Desert to conduct surveys of ancient lava tubes for a NASA Mars project near the town of Baker. For all of his activities, Bob was elected to the Board of Directors of the Institute for Nautical Archaeology (INA) located at Texas A & M.
J. J. Kelley SM ’07 released his documentary of paddling homemade wooden boats down the 1300 mile Inside Passage from Alaska to Seattle with a friend. Featured previously on PBS via National Geographic’s Wild Chronicles, Kelley’s film features unusual encounters with unexpected marine life.
Two ECWG members received some of Explorers Club’s highest awards at the EC Annual Dinner in March. Dr. Wade Davis HON ’87, anthropologist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, received the 2011 Explorers Medal in recognition for his lifetime work with the world’s indigenous cultures. Dr. Polly Penhale FN ’91 received the 2011 Quadrennial Finn Ronne Award for her lifetime accomplishments in polar research.
Other activities of note include: Dr. Joyce M. Johnson FN’03 recently returned from Secundi-Takoradi, Ghana where she provided volunteer medical care in a public mental health clinic and developed a curriculum for diagnosis and management. A photo of the critically endangered Honduran Emerald Hummingbird by Robert Hyman LF ’93 was one of the winners in The World’s Rarest Birds Photo Competition which supports their conservation. The World’s Rarest Birds book based on the competition will be published in 2012.
James Q. Tierney-Holly FE ‘61 reached his fifty year membership milestone this year. The ECWG now has 8 members in this rarified circle.
New members of the ECWG are: Bridget Baudinet SM ‘11, Katherine Comer SM ‘11, Jack Curran SM ‘05, James Delgado FN ‘97, Shellie Howard AN ’10, Venson Jordan MN ’11, Tyler Lystash SM ‘10, Carl Pechman MN ‘81, Amy Putnam SM ’10.